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| CA Cities Contemplating Chapter 9 - Unions Trying To Block In Legislature |
| 2010-05-28 |
| Two years after Vallejo, California, filed for bankruptcy protection, officials in nearby Antioch are also tossing around the 'B' word. Antioch's leaders earlier this month said bankruptcy could be an option for the cash-strapped city of roughly 100,000 on the eastern fringe of the San Francisco Bay area. Antioch's fiscal woes are standard issue for local governments in California: weak revenue from retail sales and property taxes is forcing spending cuts, layoffs and furloughs. Street expects more talk of municipal bankruptcy across California because local government finances are in such dire shape -- a situation underscored on Wednesday when a top finance officer for Sacramento County projected a worse-than-expected shortfall for the county of $181 million, which could force more than 1,000 layoffs from the county's payroll. "You don't have the easy out of increasing revenue and you have a lot more call on services because of the economy," Street said. "There's no such thing as entertaining bankruptcy; there's ending denial." Talk of municipal bankruptcy has not escaped California's politically powerful public employee unions. A number of them are pressing the legislature to pass a bill that would require local governments to get the approval of a state board before filing for bankruptcy. Since the board could be stacked with union-friendly appointees, bankruptcy pleas could be rejected or delayed. "It's a horrible bill," Levinson said. "If you don't have the bankruptcy outlet, what do you do? If you can't pay your bills what do you do?" |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #11 I live 30 mins from Vallejo. I love lurking around the ol' Mare Island Shipyards. :::sigh:::. Folks, the Dems are gonna triple down on their asinine ideology. They've nothing else to do. This is their moment. They will go for broke and simply hope the Repubs don't have the power to undo the damage they have done - the volkes be damned. It's that simple... that sad. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2010-05-28 21:58 |
| #10 VARIOUS > seems MEXICO is okay wid POTUS BAmmer sending 1200 US troops to their side of the borders BUT NOT OKAY WID THE US TRYING TO STOP ILLEGAL HISPANIC IMMIGRATION into the US [Arizona]??? D *** NG IT AMERIKA, the mighty OWG USSA = weak OWG USRoA SSR, WE'RE TRYING/WORKING HARD TO NOT SOLVE A PROBLEM HERE, D *** YOU! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-28 21:03 |
| #9 both Orange County and Vallejo tested but were not able to rescind them - I have one (not for another 10 years though), so I follow it. City of SD maxes at 90% (2.5%/service year means 36 years, and your first year on probation doesn't count, so effectively 37 yrs maxes you out for non-safety-employees). Like I said - that's not for new (last 2 yrs and future) employees. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-28 18:56 |
| #8 Frank G: I'm not so sure about pension protections in Chapter 9. The law is fuzzy, at best: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429132330 And it is coming to a head in a hurry. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-05-28 18:16 |
| #7 bk doesn't affect pensions, which are a large part of the problem (Police and Fire typically get 3%/yr of service at age 50 - that's unsustainable). New employees in most munis are getting a lower tier 401K instead of a defined benefit plan. Unions have gotta (and I am in one) understand that this is not the time to be dickheads. Public employees have to share the pain. We gave back 6% in our last contract, and I voted to approve it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-28 17:08 |
| #6 Can the state legally stop a municipality from filing for bankruptcy? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-05-28 16:23 |
| #5 Sacramento is was hometown and i still work there. There are about 1.5 million people living in the county. Before the crisis they were expected to spend $400mil. Where did think they were going to get the money to spend? It boggles the mind. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-05-28 15:30 |
#4 #3 If you can't pay your bills what do you do? well, that and blame Bush |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-05-28 14:35 |
| #3 If you can't pay your bills what do you do? Raise taxes, raise taxes, always raise taxes. |
| Posted by: Jerry Brown 2010-05-28 14:30 |
| #2 In the end it doesn't matter if its a board or a judge. If there's no money in the bank, there's no money to pay out. Once the citizenry figures out that they're clearly nothing but tax serfs for the unions, they'll either suffer with taxes that deliver nothing but union pay and benefits or flee. I doubt any of them have the stomach for their own Place de Concorde. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-28 14:18 |
| #1 Stupid but predictable on the unions' part. There can be an orderly bankruptcy via the legal system, or a chaotic, de facto bankruptcy where the doors are padlocked and the lights go out. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-05-28 13:40 |